A Chocolate Lover’s Bundt Cake

How do take sweetness to the next level when you’ve already maxxed out with the ultimate Chocolate Lover’s Birthday Cake? This was the challenge I was faced with when brainstorming a cake fit for yet another office chocolate fiend.

The best part of making birthday cakes is always tailoring the flavours to the recipient, putting thought and care into each decision to make them feel as special as can be. The challenge in this case was to produce an equally over-the-top cake as the previous workplace office chocolate binge while retaining that sense of personalisation.

My solution was to up the ante across the board. By using a Bundt tin, adding chocolate chips to the cake batter, diversifying the toppings and drizzling the whole thing with caramel, I was able to re-work the flavours I knew the birthday girl would love while maintaining the surprise factor.

For this cake, my vision was caramel oozing down the crevices of a Bundt cake with a centre filled with chocolates. To achieve this, I enlisted the help of my Nordic Ware Party Bundt Tin and its beautifully pronounced grooves.

Wanting a solid chocolate cake that could hold its own under layers of sweetness, I started with Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Bundt Cake and added Cadbury Milk Chocolate Baking Chips for added oomf.

From there it was simply a matter of curating the confectionary selection. I chose a rich chocolate and caramel theme with Mars Bars, Snickers, Twix, KitKat, Milkybar, Maltesers and chocolate covered pretzels.

You can’t go wrong with chocolate and caramel but be warned, as expected this cake is ultra-sweet.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Bundt Cake:

– 225 g unsalted butter, plus more for pan

– 2 ¼ C plain flour

– ¾ C cocoa powder

– 1 tsp baking soda

– 1 tsp salt

– ½ C milk

– ½ C sour cream

– 4 eggs

– 1 ½ C sugar

– 1 tsp vanilla extract

Toppings:

– 200 g Bonne Maman caramel

– 1 x 53g Mars Bar, roughly chopped

– 1 x 50 g Snickers, roughly chopped

– 1 x 55 g Twix, roughly chopped

– 1 x 45 g KitKat, roughly chopped

– 1 x 50 g Milkybar, roughly chopped

– 140 g Maltesers

– 70 g chocolate coated pretzels, roughly chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C and butter a Bundt tin.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a measuring jug, whisk together milk and sour cream.

4. Use an electric stand mixer to beat butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes or until pale and fluffy.

5. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Add vanilla and mix to incorporate.

7. Add the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk mixture and beginning and ending with flour, and beat until just combined.

8. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the tip.

9. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

10. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool slightly.

11. Remove cake from tin and cool completely.

12. Level the cake so that it will sit flat on a cake board.

13. Drizzle the top with caramel, ensuring enough caramel to drip down the cake but not so much that it floods the board.

14. Adhere chopped confectionary to the caramel on top of the cake, alternating with sizes, colours and textures.

15. Use extra caramel to secure further chopped confectionary to the board around the cake.